Web based personal directory

ABSTRACT

A personal directory system  10  has a translation server  40  for verifying the identity of a subscriber and recognizing the name of one or more subscribers that are stored on a personal directory of another subscriber. A caller is connected by a public telephone switch to the server  40  that accesses a personal directory computer  60  located on the World Wide Web  50.  The requested number and/or speed dial number are converted from text to speech and the public telephone switch automatically dials the requested number.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] This invention is a continuation-in-part of co-pending U.S. Ser.No. 09/054,681 filed Apr. 3, 1998 the entire disclosure of which isherein incorporated by reference. This invention relates in general tointeractive voice response systems and, in particular, to such systemshaving personal directories stored on a web site.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] Telephone companies have long offered directory assistanceservice. A typical caller dials a special number, such as “411” fordirectory assistance. Often the caller who requests assistance isconnected to an operator. Recent advances in voice recognition systemspermit 411 services to connect the caller to a voice recognitioncomputer. The computer has a store of digital files, including promptsfor the caller. In response to information provided by the caller, thevoice recognition system either identifies the requested subscriberphone number or passes the call to an operator.

[0003] The operator and the voice recognition system have access to oneor more computers that store the telephone numbers for local andlong-distance subscribers. Subscriber telephone numbers are stored inaccordance with subscriber data. Such data includes the name of thesubscriber and the subscriber location including street address, city ortown, and state. After the 411 service acquires the requested phonenumber, the number is usually automatically announced to the caller. Theannouncement is a computer-generated voice signal that gives the callerthe requested subscriber phone number. Advances in directory assistancetechnology allow the directory assistance equipment and its caller tointeract. Now a caller can choose to let the directory assistanceequipment automatically place the call to the requested phone number.The announcement directs the user to press a specified key on thetelephone pad or say “yes” if the user wants the directory assistanceequipment to dial the number. Often there is a charge for automaticconnection.

[0004] After a customer pays for directory assistance, the customer maymanually make a permanent record of the desired number in a personaldirectory. The directory may be a book, part of a personal organizer,digital assistant, or in a database that stores information on acomputer. Some frequently called numbers may be stored in the telephonewhere they can be selected for speed dialing. Selecting a programmingkey on the telephone to access the feature normally activates aconventional speed-dialing feature. Then the desired number is dialedinto the telephone and becomes associated with an abbreviated dialingcode. When the user wants to call the desired number, the dialing codefor the desired number is dialed instead of the actual number. Thetelephone set generates a series of DTMF tones that correspond to thedesired number.

[0005] If the customer fails to make a permanent record of the desirednumber, he may have to make a second directory assistance call to findthe number. Personal directories can be lost or the data stored in apersonal organizer or digital assistant may be accidentally deleted.Telephone sets with speed dialing have limited storage capacity. Perhapsas many as twenty numbers can be stored on a telephone. However, theinformation in a personal directory and the speed-dialing ability of onephone is useless if the customer does not have his directory or is awayfrom the programmed telephone. For example, the customer may forget totake his personal directory on a trip. Again, the customer is faced withplacing a directory assistance call to acquire the desired number.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0006] The invention is a public network based personal directorysystem. It includes a translation server for interfacing the telephoneset with a site on a computer network that holds frequently dialednumbers of the caller. When calls are made from the caller's owntelephone number, a caller identification module in the translationserver identifies an address on the computer where the caller's personaldirectory is stored. As an alternative, the caller may dial a specialaccess number from other locations. Upon entry of an authorization code,the caller is then connected to his personal directory.

[0007] The directory is a site on a computer network, such as theInternet. Private networks may also be used, but using the Internetreduces administrative costs. Each subscriber to the personal directoryservice has a home page at a site located on the World Wide Web. Thetranslation server includes a voice recognition or DTMF module forconverting the caller's voice to commands. It also has a text-to-speechmodule that includes a programmed series of prompts and responses forassisting the subscriber. The subscriber gives his name and/orauthorization code. The translation server converts them into theuniversal resource locator address that corresponds to the identifiedsubscriber. A server locates the web site that includes the home page ofthe subscriber. Then the subscriber requests the number of one of thenames in his personal directory. The voice recognition module convertsthe spoken name into a home page search request and locates the desirednumber. Upon confirmation, the translation server passes the call to thetelephone network and the network rings the desired number.

[0008] The switch receives a telephone call from a caller who requestshis personal directory. Dialing a special telephone number does this.The personal directory system has a voice path to the caller through theswitch and assumes control of the call from the switch. The personaldirectory has computer-based equipment that includes one or morememories that store and retrieve a list of home pages for personaldirectory subscribers. Each subscriber home page has a list of thesubscriber's frequently dialed phone numbers and corresponding speeddial codes.

[0009] In the preferred embodiment, the home pages are stored on a sitelocated on the Internet. The telephone company that provides thepersonal directory service maintains that site.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0010]FIG. 1 is a schematic description of the personal directorysystem.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0011]FIG. 1 shows a personal directory system 10. There are a number ofsubscribers 12, 14 who can call other subscribers 32, 34. Thesubscribers are part of a telephone network 100 that includes one ormore switches 20. The switches 20 connect one of the calling subscriber12, 14 to one of the called subscriber 32, 34 in a conventional manner.Those skilled in the art will understand that the telephone network 100is representative of local, national, and international telephonesystems and combinations of such systems. The following explanation willassign certain functions and operations to a telephone company. Thoseskilled in the art will understand that the telephone company may be anyone of the many companies that now provide telephone services, includingwired and wireless service.

[0012] The telephone network 100 is interfaced and coupled to a computernetwork 50 via a translation server 40. The translation server 40 is acomputer with a central processing unit 47, a memory 48 that includesrandom access memory, read only memory and mass storage memory. Includedin the mass storage memory are addresses of the personal directories ofthe subscribers 12, 14. The translation server 40 receives calls fromsubscribers 12, 14 seeking their personal directory. The server 40 has acaller identification module 41 or program that recognizes the telephonenumber of the calling subscriber 12, 14. The server 40 then compares theidentity of the caller to a number of universal resource locationaddresses that are stored in its memory. When the server 40 matches thecaller 12, 14 to the URL corresponding to the caller, the serveraccesses the URL on the computer network 50.

[0013] The computer network 50 is typically a wide area, public accessnetwork, such as the World Wide Web (WWW) of the Internet. The Internet50 has one or more personal directory servers 60 that hold the URLs ofthe addresses stored in the translation server. Each server 60 has acentral processing unit (CPU) 67 and memory 68 (RAM and ROM) for holdingoperating and applications programs and data corresponding to homepages61, 62 of subscribers 12, 14. Upon accessing the homepage, the server 60searches for the telephone number desired by the subscriber andtransmits the number to the translation server 40 over the WWW 50.

[0014] Each home page 61, 62 stores a personal directory of therespective subscribers 12, 14 along with speed dial codes for eachentry. For example, the subscriber may store the number of afirst-called party 32 with a speed dial code, such as *88 and thetelephone number of a second called party 34 with speed dial code *92.The stored number is supplied to the switch 20 to complete the call.

[0015] Translation server 40 has several user-friendly modules to assistcallers 12, 14. These modules include a voice recognition module 42 anda text-to-speech module 44. The modules include analog-to-digitalconverters for input voice signals into digital signals that can berecognized by voice recognition module 42. Likewise, theanalog-to-digital converters convert digital signals corresponding totext from the URL locations to voice signals so that the caller willreceive the desired number and speed dial code. A telephone company thatoperates the telephone network 100 maintains the personal directoryserver 60. Operators 70 and individuals with a Web browser 72 can accessthe Web site 60 to update the individual homepages 61, 62. The operators70 can update the speed dial codes associated with the numbers found onthe homepages 61, 62.

[0016] In operation, a caller 12 dials a personal directory telephonenumber for the translation server 40. When the server 40 answers, itscaller identification module recognizes the calling party as subscriber12. The caller identification module 41 verifies that the calling partyis a subscriber to the personal directory service. The identity of thesubscriber is verified by the subscriber supplying a password or byother conventional means. The server 40 looks up the URL for caller 12and accesses the homepage 61 on the personal directory server 60. Thetranslation server 40 then executes a series of voice prompts andresponses to ascertain the identity of the party the subscriber 12 iscalling. For example, the server 100 will begin with a voice prompt suchas “Please tell me the name of the party you are calling.” In response,the subscriber speaks the name of subscriber 32. Let us assume the nameis “Don North.” The voice recognition module 42 translates the spokenname of the subscriber into digital signals corresponding to the nameson the directory of homepage 61. The server 60 provides the telephonenumber and/or the speed dial code of the called party 32 to the switch20. The translation server 40 issues a confirmation voice prompt, suchas “Confirm that the party you are calling is Don North by pressing 1”and the server 40 passes the number to the switch 20 which dials DonNorth's telephone number. The translation server 40 in any voiceoperated Internet protocol (VOIP) or switch 20 in the public servicetelephone network (PSTN) network dials the dumber of Don North.

[0017] Having thus described the general embodiments of the invention,those skilled in the art will appreciate that further changes additions,alterations and deletions may be made to the embodiments withoutdeparting from the spirit and the scope of the invention as set forth inthe following claims. Those skilled in the art understand that theswitch 20 is found in existing equipment such as the DMS 100/200manufactured by Northern Telecom. Those skilled in the art will alsoappreciate that the disclosed system may also include a directoryassistance system that locates desired numbers and then stores thelocated number on the personal directory of the subscriber.

What is claimed:
 1. A personal directory system comprising: a publictelephone coupled to a public telephone network, said switch includingmeans for receiving a telephone call from a subscriber requesting apersonal directory for the subscriber, means for establishing a voicepath to the subscriber, and means for routing the call to a numbersupplied by a translation server; a translation sever coupled to theswitch and to a computer network and comprising means for receiving acall from the switch requesting a personal directory, means for storingcomputer network addresses of personal directories of subscribers andmeans for searching said stored addresses for the address of thepersonal directory of the subscriber and means for receiving a telephonenumber from one of the personal directories on the computer network andfor transmitting said telephone number to the switch; and a personaldirectory server located on the computer network and storing a pluralityof personal directories at different addresses on said network, eachpersonal directory comprising a plurality of pairs of names of othersubscribers and their corresponding telephone numbers, said plurality ofpairs having been selected by the subscriber; means for searching thestored telephone numbers in the personal directory of the subscriber fora desired telephone number and means for transmitting a selected storednumber to the translation server.
 2. The system of claim 1 wherein thecomputer network is a wide area public network.
 3. The system of claim 2wherein the wide area public networks is the World Wide Web of theInternet.
 4. The system of claim 1 wherein the translation servercomprises a text-to-speech module for converting a personal directoryentry to a name or telephone number or both.
 5. The system of claim 1wherein the translation server comprises a voice recognition module forrecognizing an entry in the personal directory when the entry is spokenby a caller.
 6. The system of claim 1 wherein the translation servercomprises a caller identification module for verifying the identity ofthe subscriber.
 7. The system of claim 1 wherein the translation serversupplies a requested personal directory number to the switch and theswitch automatically dials the personal directory number.
 8. A methodfor automatically dialing a telephone number on a public telephonenetwork from a personal directory stored on a computer networkcomprising the steps of: establishing a voice path from a personaldirectory subscriber to a translation server that holds an address for apersonal directory of the subscriber; searching a memory in thetranslation sever for a computer network address of the personaldirectory of the subscriber; connecting the translation server to saidcomputer network address; storing at the computer network address in apersonal directory a plurality of pairs of names of other subscribersand their corresponding telephone numbers; retrieving from the personaldirectory a desired telephone number; and automatically dialing theretrieved number.
 9. The method of claim 8 comprising a further step ofaccessing the personal directory of the subscriber and modifying thepairs of stored names and telephone numbers.
 10. The method of claim 8comprising the further step of verifying the identity of a caller beforeaccessing the personal directory of the subscriber.